She had motherly ways, though always a bit preachy, and was beloved by all her servants. A few weeks after the death of the old Prince she approached Grushenka and asked her what she intended to do. Did she want to leave her? Should she look around for “a husband for her?
Would she like to settle down on a little farm? What were her plans?
Grushenka had no answer ready. After talking it over they decided that Grushenka should stay at the house for the present, and the Countess put her in charge of the linen and silver room.
Grushenka now carried on her belt a chain with many big keys which opened drawers and chests. She was proud to take care of countless sets of linen, from the coarse and daily-used bed linen of the serfs to the finest table damask, and of hundreds of pieces of china and many valuable silver ornaments which were put on the table on special occasions only. She had ten girls working under her, cleaning, repairing and sewing the new linen which had been woven by another group of girls or by the peasant women on one of the estates.
Her pride made her ambitious to have the utensils entrusted to her always at their very best. This ambition did not meet completely with the zeal of the girls working for her, especially in the beginning when they started to clean up after the years of disorder that preceded the death of the old Prince. She began to admonish her girls with friendly words, but she was timid and they laughed behind her back. It took all her courage to pinch one or the other on the arm, and she felt that as soon as she turned around they made faces at her and giggled. At last she complained to the Countess, who gave the matter serious thought. She advised her as follows: “The trouble with peasants,” said the Countess, “is that they won't hear with their ears until they have felt with their backs. It won't do for you to report them to me and for me to have them sent to the stable. They'll only pin on you the stigma of a traitor and they'll think you're afraid of them and will play you plenty of tricks. No-you will have to keep some good fresh switches in salt water in your working pantry. If you beat one or two of their backs sore, they'll kiss the hem of your sleeves.” After this advice, Grushenka got the switches and gave the girls a warning, but she made very little headway. The girls joked about the switches and broke the stems in the middle when she was not looking. There was one in particular, a big fat girl, about thirty years of age. She had been married twice to farmers, both of whom had died, and had always returned to the inner circle of the household because she had been one of the last favorites of the deceased Prince. She used to call Grushenka “baby,” and told stories of her married life which made the other girls stop working. She herself would do almost nothing in a day's time, and, when Grushenka pinched her on the arm, she would grin and say: “Why dear, do that again, please. It feels nice.” She certainly did riot feel it very much. She had a tough, brown skin and the hard flesh of her peasant stock. Her overgrown, full breasts had first attracted the old Prince when he saw her once swimming in the river of his estate. She used to kneel down before him, put his weapon between her breasts, press them gently together and rub until she felt his love juices flowing over her throat. She imagined that she had superior rights to Grushenka, hence her heckling and resistance. Therefore when she aroused Grushenka's temper again and again, Grushenka finally lost her patience and condemned her to twenty-five strokes over the bare buttocks with the switch. The girl arose unmoved, took some hair pins out of her hair and with them pinned her skirt up over her back.
With slow movements and ceremony she” removed her drawers, laid herself on the floor, bottom-up and said sarcastically: “Please hit me, sweetheart. I want to be heated up.” Grushenka knelt with one knee on the back of the culprit and put the bucket with the switches next to her on the floor. In front of her were two enormous buttocks-two big brown globes, muscular and steel-hard. The girl held her thighs closely together and strained her muscles in order to ward off the strokes. She was not at all afraid, because Grushenka was not very strong. Grushenka felt that if she did not beat the culprit into submission she would lose the respect of all her girls, and she pressed her lips together in anger. “Open up your legs as wide as you can,” she ordered curtly. “Certainly, my dove,” retorted the girl mockingly; “anything to please my little pet.” She spread her legs as wide as she could. At the end of the cleft appeared a great cavern-a hair-infested grotto which seemed able to hold a big stick. The thick flesh on the end of the cleft was not muscular, and the inside of the thighs next to the orifice attracted Grushenka's eyes. She directed the switch at these parts. At first, being greatly excited herself, she laid the strokes weakly and swiftly. But when the girl did not seem to mind at all, even muttering flip remarks, Grushenka began to whip her with a force which she herself had not suspected she had. The flesh around the grotto became crimson. The first drops of blood appeared. “The girl began to move-uneasily. The ends of the switch were cutting the lower part of the lips of the orifice. Soon the switch had broken to pieces.
Grushenka picked a new one. Her hand got sore, but she did not mind.
She was breathless, but she whipped and whipped, her eyes directed towards the end of the cleft and neglecting entirely the big, muscular thighs. Finally the girl felt the pain keenly. She had stood it at first to show up Grushenka and to prove that she could not hurt her. But now her pain became too violent. She closed her legs.
Grushenka, sensing victory and submission, would not have it so.
She shouted at her to open up again, and, when the girl did not obey, she bent over in a rage and bit her viciously on one of the big buttocks. The girl groaned and cried out, but reluctantly opened her enormous thighs again. This was not enough for Grushenka who jerked them open as far as it was possible and resumed her whipping until the girl prayed for mercy and to be forgiven. Grushenka stopped beating, but she was not yet through with her. She told the girl not to move until she had washed her up herself. In the hollow of her hand, she took salt water from the bucket and rubbed it into the raw, beaten flesh. The sting of the cold water shot up the girl's back and, as she instinctively recoiled, Grushenka manhandled her love-nest, pinching her all around the Venus' Hill and pulling her hair severely. Finally she inserted her sharp nails into the lips of the grotto and, with a last pinch, which made the culprit scream, let her go. After the girl rose, she gave Grushenka a strange look of mingled astonishment and devotion. She curtsied and kissed her sleeve, then went humble to her work without wiping off the tears which trickled down her cheeks. From that day, all the girls looked up to Grushenka with respect, and some of them even told her how glad they were that Grushenka had punished that bitch who had been so fresh.
Grushenka herself had undergone a change by this experience. She now looked at her ten girls as her property, and she enjoyed feeling that she could do with them what she wanted. She felt a certain thrill when she pinched their bare arms. She did not hurry when she had them expose the inside of a thigh or even a breast, so that she could squeeze the flesh slowly between the knuckles of two fingers, pinch hard and twist her hand around. When her victim yelled or did not hold still, she did it over and over again, and she was aware that she got a thrill out of it. She took even more advantage of her girls and they did not dare complain to the Countess. Grushenka had no lover, and she often felt randy. What had Nelidova done? For what had those lazy brats their tongues? Remembering her one-time mistress, Grushenka had these girls make love to her. The fat girl, who had been her antagonist, became her favorite for this sport. She had a long, crafty tongue and used to alternate rimming and tickling without having to be told what to do. But if one of the younger girls did not satisfy her, Grushenka beat her with a clear conscience. She used to say to herself: “Who had pity on me when I was in the same position?”